Gift of Words
by Inkblots
Summary: The young princess of Linden has an unusual gift, the gift of tongues. She is sent to marry the crown prince of another country to ensure peace for her kingdom. Then on the way to her new home, she is betrayed... Based on "The Goose Girl" SxS


Disclaimer: Cardcaptors is in no way mine and neither is this plot. This story is based on The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale.  
  
The young princess of Linden has an unusual gift, the gift on tongues. She is sent to marry the crown prince of another country to ensure peace for her kingdom and she believes that her life cannot possibly get any worse, Then on the way to her new home, she is betrayed by one close to her and her own entourage, and is left a poor servant girl tending to her geese. How will she gain back her rightful place on the throne? Based on the fairytale "The Goose Girl"  
  
Gift of Words  
  
By: Inkblots  
  
She was born Sakura Amamiya Kinomoto, Crown Princess of Liden, and she did not open her eyes for 3 days.  
  
Her worried mother, the queen directed ministers to the crib. They listened to her breathing and the slight thump of her hummingbird heart, felt her fierce grip like a tiger and her tiny fingers soft and delicate like a peach. Everything was all right, yet her eyes still remained closed.  
  
For three days, grave-faced attendants and priests came and went. They poked and prodded her, lifted her lids, slipped dark honey syrup down her throat.  
  
"You are a princess," whispered the queen into her baby's ear.  
  
"Open your eyes to the world." She commanded.  
  
However, the baby just cooed into her sleep.  
  
When the third day had worn away to the lake sunset blue of dawning evening, a slight hand parted the curtains allowing entry to the nursery. All was still and silent for the night. The queen and King were fast asleep in their beds and servants were resting in their quarters.  
  
The newborn princess in her crib dreamed of milk, her round perfect raspberry lips nursing in sleep. A woman in a dark evergreen robe pulled aside he curtains and floated quietly across the floor. She slid her slender hand under the infants back, held her up and laughed a sound like tinkling bells.  
  
" Did you call me out of my home to come and tell you stories?" she asked.  
  
"I shall if you promise to listen and remember."  
  
The next morning, the Queen and King awoke to the sounds of the rocking chair creaking in the nursery and a lovely voice singing about robins and butterflies.  
  
All at once, the instincts of a mother kicked in, and the Queen was worried. She stood up and called rapidly to the guards, then saw that it was her own sister who sang the lullaby to her baby girl and the princess was looking up at her aunt with wide adoring emerald gems.  
  
On beautiful clear days, she took Sakura to the west end of the palace grounds where no walls had been built to constrict them. Then far out, the garden there with nobody to tend to it was allowed to stray out of its ordered rows and merge with tall weeds and pine. The aunt had always felt easier there, more closer to nature and her mother earth. It was during there that she held her niece's small hand and named all that gathered around them.  
  
"Do you see that exotic looking bird perched on top of the highest branch of that oak Sakura? The one with the yellow breast? She's migrating farther north now that the weather is warmer. The red-wing there is looking for twigs and chirps that he has found himself a picky mate."  
  
Sakura began to speak full sentences at the age of one year. The aunt knew much too well that her mother and father would not take this achievement well for Lidenreans never liked anything out of the common. However hard she tried, the news began to creep out.  
  
The household staff noticed it and rumors began to spread that perhaps the queer aunt possessed unnatural methods of awakening a child's words.  
  
The Queen were uncomfortable with the talk and was careful to never call her Sister in public and the King saw to little of his little daughter to be worried much.  
  
When the constant watch of her mother's attention parted, her aunt became her constant companion.  
  
No matter the condition of the weather, the aunt sat on the floor of the princess's bedroom and told Sakura stories of fantastic and faraway things: a land where mares pawed gold nuggets from the earth and ate them to breathe out music; a cook who cooked animals from dough and sent them out on errands.  
  
The aunt sang wondrous songs again and again till Sakura could catch the words, her young voice delicate and clear as a sparrow's call.  
  
One day in early summer when Sakura was four, the two companions sat in the dappled shade of a grand cherry-blossom tree on the edge of the palace's garden swan pond. Sakura loved these birds that were as big as she and begged them to eat bread out of her hands. When her hand was finally emptied, the swans all shrugged their wings and shronked at her.  
  
'What are they saying?"  
  
"They wanted to know, " replied the aunt, "if there was any more bread to eat."  
  
Sakura looked at the nearest swan straight in one eye, " I'm sorry, no more bread for today, perhaps tomorrow."  
  
The swan shrugged her wings and swam away.  
  
"What does that movement mean?"  
  
"I don't think that he understands your language darling." The aunt said as she turned her profile and eyes to the swan and from her emitted a sound quite like the one that the swan spoke, not quite a honk and almost a whine. The swan looked back.  
  
Sakura observed all of this with a solemn expression and after a moment of silence, repeated the same sound she heard seconds ago.  
  
"Was that good?"  
  
"Perfect," said the aunt. "Repeat it again."  
  
She repeated the noise and smiled, a radiant smile that the sun itself would envy. The aunt looked at her nice thoughtfully, the corners of her mouth tight with suppressed excitement.  
  
"Did that just make you happy?" asked the aunt,  
  
"Yes, very much so, " said Sakura with all the certainty of a little girl.  
  
Her aunt nodded and took Sakura into her lap to tell her a story about beginnings. Sakura leaned her head against her aunt's shoulder and listened to the story and the sound of the story.  
  
"The Creator spoke the first word, and all that lived on the earth awoke and stretched and opened their mouths and minds to say a work, a word that had been resting in their minds from the moment the were given life. Through many patterns of stars, they all learned how to communicate with each other, the wind to trees, the fish to the reeds. But after many turnings and deaths, the languages of so long ago were forgotten. Yet the sun still rises and sets, and the stars still twinkle against the velvet canvas of the sky, so as long as there's movement and harmony, the words are not completely lost."  
  
Sakura leaned back and squinted her eyes, trying to look at the flaming sun. She was still young and had not learned many things such as that seeing the sun was impossible.  
  
"Everybody is born with a word on their tongue, but for many, it takes time before they can taste it. There are three gifts of words. Did you realize that you mother and father have the first? The gift of people-speaking. Many great rulers do contain that gift. That gift enables people to listen to their words, to believe them, And to love them. This is the first gift, the power of people-speaking.  
  
It is only because of this gift that this land was not taken by other kingdoms of war long ago. Great rulers such as your parents have talked themselves out of war and into peace for centuries. This gift is powerful and would best be used for good for it can be dangerous. People like me, weren't born with the gift of people- speaking though. We have another special gift.  
  
This is the gift of animal-speaking. These are the people that feel comfortable around animals and can communicate with them. Though this gift is not always a pleasant one darling. Many are suspicious of those who can speak with wild things. Once, a long time ago there were many people with this gift, now that number has dwindled to the remaining few."  
  
"The last gift is lost and rare. Through my life, I have never had the luck to meet a person with the gift of nature speaking though there are many tales that insist that it once was.  
  
I have never heard the tongue or words of fire or wind or tree no matter how hard I try. But I do believe that perhaps someday someone will discover how to hear and speak the language again. Who knows, maybe hat person might just be you Sakura."  
  
The aunt sighed and smoothed her niece's beautiful auburn hair.  
  
" Not many know the story of these three gifts, Sakura. You must remember it. It's important to know stories. Like me you were born with a word on your tongue. I don't know what the word is because it's your own word and hopefully one day you will discover it as you grow older."  
  
"Perhaps fire or wind or tree?' asked Sakura.  
  
"Perhaps," said the aunt. " I don't know those tongues. I can't help you discover them sweet."  
  
Sakura softly patted her aunt's check as though she was the elder of the two. "But you can teach me to speak with swans, that's your special gift."  
  
To Be Continued.  
  
I hope you enjoyed it( 


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